John William Heslop Harrison, FRS, (1881-1967), was Professor of Botany

Botany

Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...

 at King's College, Durham

Durham University

The University of Durham, commonly known as Durham University, is a university in Durham, England. It was founded by Act of Parliament in 1832 and granted a Royal Charter in 1837...

 (now the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne), now perhaps best remembered for an alleged academic fraud.

Heslop Harrison, an established academic and Fellow of the Royal Society

Royal Society

The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...

, was in 1948 accused by John Raven

John Raven

John Earle Raven , who published as J. E. Raven, was an English classical scholar, notable for his work on presocratic philosophy, and amateur botanist.-Early life and education:...

, a Cambridge University

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

 classics tutor, of making false claims to have discovered certain plant species on the Isle of Rum on the west coast of Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. Whether or not such grasses were on Rum is pivotal to a theory that the islands escaped the last ice age

Ice age

An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...

. The fraud claim is described — and its veracity supported — in Karl Sabbagh

Karl Sabbagh

Karl Sabbagh is a Palestinian-British writer, journalist and television producer. His work is mainly non-fiction: he has written books about historical events and produced documentaries for both British and American broadcasters....

's book, A Rum Affair. Recently more proof about forgeries committed by Heslop-Harrison emerged.

Heslop Harrison's fourth son was Jack Heslop-Harrison

Jack Heslop-Harrison

John "Jack" Heslop-Harrison FRS FAAAS was a British soldier and botanist.-Early life and education:He was born in Middlesbrough to John William Heslop-Harrison and his wife Christian Henderson, the last of three children...

 who became director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, usually referred to as Kew Gardens, is 121 hectares of gardens and botanical glasshouses between Richmond and Kew in southwest London, England. "The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew" and the brand name "Kew" are also used as umbrella terms for the institution that runs...

in 1970.

Biographies

• Unknown (1968) Biographical Memoirs of Fellow of the Royal Society of London 14, p 243
• Karl Sabbagh, A Rum Affair, London: Allen Lane, The Penguin Press, 1999. ISBN 0-7139-9277-8